XI KANT KONGRESS, XI Congresso Kantiano Internazionale

Kant's Supersensible Substratum of Humanity

Melissa Zinkin

Edificio: Palazzo dei Congressi
Sala: sala Verri
Data: 23 maggio 2010 - 14:30
Ultima modifica: 13 aprile 2010


Kant’s Supersensible Substratum of Humanity
As the “basis” of judgments of taste, the concept of the supersensible substratum is crucial for the possibility of judgments of taste. As the concept of the supersensible substratum of humanity, this concept also promises to reveal something important about the human being itself. Yet it is unclear what the supersensible substratum is. I argue that Kant introduces the supersensible substratum in order to respond to the skeptical argument that we are not capable of feeling pleasure “merely in judging.” The supersensible substratum plays a role in the Critique of Judgment similar to the role that freedom plays in the Groundwork in making the moral law binding. We can see how the supersensible substratum plays this role and grounds judgments of taste once we understand that this substratum is a substratum of force.